The other day in class, we were discussing the history and politics that Alberta has gone through. We learnt about geography, parental resistance and curricular issues. A topic that stemmed off of the idea of parental resistance of education was the way that hutterites are educated. We talked about how hutterite students only complete so many grades and then they are encouraged to quit and assist on the colony. Some of these students, similar to traditional schools, are seen as ‘gifted’, but are not likely to be encouraged to complete a couple more grades to become teachers or nurses. (Although there is a small percentage of them that do) Some of the questions that we were considering were: Should we allow these parents to hinder their children from being more intellectual? In addition, what influence do teachers have on their students?
I think the idea of us evaluating their lifestyles, traditions and education is a very difficult task as we are such outsiders to their way of living. Who are we to judge what they do? So far, in class we have been discussing different issues in the education system and we have found that these results are often very depressing. Much of education has very oppressing affects on students. With these facts, how can we say that not allowing these children to move on is in some way hindering or holding back on their quality of life?
It is difficult for me to say that these students should not be living up to their full potential because as a prospective teacher, I hope that all of my students can do just that. However, if anyone has the choice of what is best for these children, I believe that it is the parents. When I have children one day, I believe that everything I will do for them is because I think it is the best thing possible. In addition, who is to say that this is not what these children want for themselves? Why don’t we look at what they want before trying to say that what they are doing is wrong?
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Political Economy of Schooling
As we discussed in class yesterday, education has gone through four main transitions throughout the years, some good, but many that are hard to understand because of the complete lack of reasoning.
The enlightenment model was the dominant model until the 1950’s. Its purpose was solely on learning for the sake of learning. People believed of education as an expense.
Next, was the human capital model, which was dominant after the 1950’s. The main purpose of this was for economic development. People had changed their minds about education only being an expense that was necessary, but to an investment that after enough years, they would get their money back in other ways. For example, if someone decides to go through University and get a degree and possibly their masters, they are destined to be in school for many years. The functionalists say that with a human capital model that by going to school, although they are making major investments currently, one day they will soon make that money back with their good paying jobs. The question is, does this really add up? In addition, with the knowledge that you are acquiring, will there be jobs suitable? They had beliefs that educations would fix individual social problems such as racism, sexism and class because education would give these individuals skills in order to be successful. They actually found that racism was the problem; that even with the proper skills, these people would not be able to get the jobs anyways, so why try? Because of the recession in the 1980’s and the fact that everyone had become educated, there were no jobs. Instead of solving problems, it intensified them and people were unable to get jobs anyways. The government, in this time, spent a lot of money because they believed that all of it would go back to the government through taxes, so there was a massive expansion. It is unbelievable to think that the government spent so much on each schools, teachers, and classrooms and allowed every teacher to get a sum of money to buy what they needed for the classroom. Something like this would never happen again. It is sad to see how much money teachers have to spend of their own to have the things that they require in their classroom. Are there any possible solutions to this?
The manpower model was a refined version of the human capital model. It was a more directed economic development. The government, unlike before, only wanted to put money into certain types of education that was an investment into economy. This is also very sad, as something has to be making money for the economy in order for it to be seen as important enough to support financially.
Lastly is the idea of a Consumerism Model, which is also current, as is the manpower model. It is the idea that state funding will be given to things that will have some kind of economic return, but anything else is privatized, which means you have to pay for it yourself.
It is evident that everything that education is based on throughout each of these models has to do with money and the development of the economy.
On a side note, we also talked about the 5-year program that teachers now need to take. This was mostly because there were too many people who wanted to be teachers and there were not enough jobs for everyone, so in order to cut back, they increased the amount of years to five. I find this extreme, as we are reacting towards the way that economy was then, and not the way it might be later on. I hope that from these few extra years we are able to be better teachers. However, have there actually been any changes because of the years of the program?
The enlightenment model was the dominant model until the 1950’s. Its purpose was solely on learning for the sake of learning. People believed of education as an expense.
Next, was the human capital model, which was dominant after the 1950’s. The main purpose of this was for economic development. People had changed their minds about education only being an expense that was necessary, but to an investment that after enough years, they would get their money back in other ways. For example, if someone decides to go through University and get a degree and possibly their masters, they are destined to be in school for many years. The functionalists say that with a human capital model that by going to school, although they are making major investments currently, one day they will soon make that money back with their good paying jobs. The question is, does this really add up? In addition, with the knowledge that you are acquiring, will there be jobs suitable? They had beliefs that educations would fix individual social problems such as racism, sexism and class because education would give these individuals skills in order to be successful. They actually found that racism was the problem; that even with the proper skills, these people would not be able to get the jobs anyways, so why try? Because of the recession in the 1980’s and the fact that everyone had become educated, there were no jobs. Instead of solving problems, it intensified them and people were unable to get jobs anyways. The government, in this time, spent a lot of money because they believed that all of it would go back to the government through taxes, so there was a massive expansion. It is unbelievable to think that the government spent so much on each schools, teachers, and classrooms and allowed every teacher to get a sum of money to buy what they needed for the classroom. Something like this would never happen again. It is sad to see how much money teachers have to spend of their own to have the things that they require in their classroom. Are there any possible solutions to this?
The manpower model was a refined version of the human capital model. It was a more directed economic development. The government, unlike before, only wanted to put money into certain types of education that was an investment into economy. This is also very sad, as something has to be making money for the economy in order for it to be seen as important enough to support financially.
Lastly is the idea of a Consumerism Model, which is also current, as is the manpower model. It is the idea that state funding will be given to things that will have some kind of economic return, but anything else is privatized, which means you have to pay for it yourself.
It is evident that everything that education is based on throughout each of these models has to do with money and the development of the economy.
On a side note, we also talked about the 5-year program that teachers now need to take. This was mostly because there were too many people who wanted to be teachers and there were not enough jobs for everyone, so in order to cut back, they increased the amount of years to five. I find this extreme, as we are reacting towards the way that economy was then, and not the way it might be later on. I hope that from these few extra years we are able to be better teachers. However, have there actually been any changes because of the years of the program?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Question on Education
Today I would like to blog about something that I heard yesterday that I wasn’t sure was true or not. Beware that this may have a few different subjects and might just turn into a personal rant about my beliefs in education. It is also more or less a story about a conversation that I had yesterday. A girl about the same age as me that I work with was taking education at the U of L, but became scared about rumors that she was going to be forced to teach in a high school class. I found this crazy that she has now dropped out and has started to take another type of program at the college. It actually turned out that she is now regretting this choice. Besides this fact, another girl and I were discussing this girl and how she is not satisfied with the program that she is in now. This other girl started to say that she also did not know what she wanted to do or go to school for and that at one point in her life, she did want to become a teacher. She grew away from the dream of becoming a teacher because of the way that the school systems work. She then started to talk about how students are colour coded by the way that they behave. I don’t know the actual colours, but for example: If a child has attention problems, behavioral issues, a learning disability, etc, they are given a colour that all the teachers are aware of. First of all, this is something that I have never heard of before. I do, however, realize that teachers do know of these difficulties/issues, but do they make a point of colour coding these children? If this is something that teachers are doing, won’t these “codes” follow these students with them throughout their education career and in turn place barriers on their learning? Does anyone else know anything about this, or what the truth actually is? If so, that would be great!
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Challenges of Teaching
The next chapter that I read in my book titled "Teaching from the Inside Out" is called “The Challenges of Teaching”. I thought that this would also be a good chapter, as we have been focusing on the challenges in schools and teaching alike.
Larry and Jim say “Here is the truth about teaching. Your life as a teacher will be up and down, repeatedly. Teaching is sometimes wonderful, sometimes joyful, and sometimes uplifting. Sometimes you will tear your hair out. Sometimes you will cry. Sometimes students, at any age, are so precious that you can’t help treasuring the experiences you share with them. Sometimes, just when you think they couldn’t care less, they prove they can.” I really enjoyed this quote as it emphasizes the word SOMETIMES. The way that you can interpret these situations and the way you act upon them will determine the outcome.
This chapter discusses five challenges that they find are the most common and important.
Challenge One: Teacher Satisfaction
The most satisfied teachers are the ones who want desperately to be teachers. “The finding suggests that a person would almost have to be foolish to stumble into teaching as a last resort and expect to be satisfied.” I completely agree with this statement as it is not something that everyone is able to do with success. In order to be satisfied as a teacher, it is important to realize that there will inevitably be issues in every aspect of teaching, but just realizing this will help prepare teachers. “Rather than trust a series of experts, we think that teachers must grown towards their own expertise.” Just as there are no students that are alike, they are no teachers that are the same. We all work in different ways and we need to be able to grow towards something that is going to work for us as an individual.
Challenge Two: Becoming Self Aware
How do we ever really know how our teaching affects our students? Teachers need to be able to self-monitor and achieve a sense of self awareness. The authors suggest that in order to help with this, it is important to find a critical friend who will be able to tell you the truth about how you are doing. If not, how will you ever know? And worst of all, what if you find out after it is too late?
Challenge Three: Discipline
“Since most students you will teach are kids, it probably would be wise to expect them to act like kids.” They are acting this way simply because they are kids. It is also important to note though that although they are kids, we still want to encourage kids to grow into adults. Many teachers try to make examples out of kids in order to set up their rules in the classroom. They purposely wait for a student to act out and then discipline them for all of the other students to watch. As we want to encourage maturation, doesn’t it make more sense to make an example of those who are doing what they are asked to do? For example, if a student is sitting still when asked to, encourage this behavior by letting them know they are doing a good job. I know that this was not always the case in my education experiences.
Challenge Four: Struggling to Compensate for a Troubled Society
As we all know, there is more to a child’s life than school, so it is important for us to help them with their daily problems as well as their academics. This is a challenge that the authors say is something that most books do not deal with. 58% of students say that their teachers influence them, yet only 9 % of teachers in their education career have made an impact on their lives. “More than 9 teachers out of 10 (91%) were not memorable.” That is very sad, and yet I think I can only remember two teachers in all of my education who made any type of impact on me.
Challenge Five: Burnout
Although this is a hotly debated issue within education, the authors suggest that this is something that rarely occurs. It is more likely to happen to an older teacher than a younger and most teachers who have gained enough experience are usually able to avoid it. It is mainly important to avoid stress and this can lessen the chances of burnout. Otherwise, it is not as big of an issue that everyone says. Overall though, I believe that everyone deals with things differently.
Larry and Jim say “Here is the truth about teaching. Your life as a teacher will be up and down, repeatedly. Teaching is sometimes wonderful, sometimes joyful, and sometimes uplifting. Sometimes you will tear your hair out. Sometimes you will cry. Sometimes students, at any age, are so precious that you can’t help treasuring the experiences you share with them. Sometimes, just when you think they couldn’t care less, they prove they can.” I really enjoyed this quote as it emphasizes the word SOMETIMES. The way that you can interpret these situations and the way you act upon them will determine the outcome.
This chapter discusses five challenges that they find are the most common and important.
Challenge One: Teacher Satisfaction
The most satisfied teachers are the ones who want desperately to be teachers. “The finding suggests that a person would almost have to be foolish to stumble into teaching as a last resort and expect to be satisfied.” I completely agree with this statement as it is not something that everyone is able to do with success. In order to be satisfied as a teacher, it is important to realize that there will inevitably be issues in every aspect of teaching, but just realizing this will help prepare teachers. “Rather than trust a series of experts, we think that teachers must grown towards their own expertise.” Just as there are no students that are alike, they are no teachers that are the same. We all work in different ways and we need to be able to grow towards something that is going to work for us as an individual.
Challenge Two: Becoming Self Aware
How do we ever really know how our teaching affects our students? Teachers need to be able to self-monitor and achieve a sense of self awareness. The authors suggest that in order to help with this, it is important to find a critical friend who will be able to tell you the truth about how you are doing. If not, how will you ever know? And worst of all, what if you find out after it is too late?
Challenge Three: Discipline
“Since most students you will teach are kids, it probably would be wise to expect them to act like kids.” They are acting this way simply because they are kids. It is also important to note though that although they are kids, we still want to encourage kids to grow into adults. Many teachers try to make examples out of kids in order to set up their rules in the classroom. They purposely wait for a student to act out and then discipline them for all of the other students to watch. As we want to encourage maturation, doesn’t it make more sense to make an example of those who are doing what they are asked to do? For example, if a student is sitting still when asked to, encourage this behavior by letting them know they are doing a good job. I know that this was not always the case in my education experiences.
Challenge Four: Struggling to Compensate for a Troubled Society
As we all know, there is more to a child’s life than school, so it is important for us to help them with their daily problems as well as their academics. This is a challenge that the authors say is something that most books do not deal with. 58% of students say that their teachers influence them, yet only 9 % of teachers in their education career have made an impact on their lives. “More than 9 teachers out of 10 (91%) were not memorable.” That is very sad, and yet I think I can only remember two teachers in all of my education who made any type of impact on me.
Challenge Five: Burnout
Although this is a hotly debated issue within education, the authors suggest that this is something that rarely occurs. It is more likely to happen to an older teacher than a younger and most teachers who have gained enough experience are usually able to avoid it. It is mainly important to avoid stress and this can lessen the chances of burnout. Otherwise, it is not as big of an issue that everyone says. Overall though, I believe that everyone deals with things differently.
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Complexity of Teaching
As we haven’t had any discussion classes for a week, I decided to look for another type of reading to blog abo
ut. I quickly remembered a book called Teaching from the Inside Out by Larry Beauchamp (Dean of Faculty of Education) and Jim Parsons. This book was the first book that ever introduced me to concepts of teaching. I had to read it in my Intro to Ed. Class in Medicine Hat and I remember always thinking that it was a very interesting book. The two authors of the book are professors at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I especially enjoy this book because it gives you the truth about teaching. It does not constantly talk about the wonderful joys of teaching, but also the faults, issues and things that need to be dealt with. It shows a sense of reality. They both believe that “learning to teach means more than learning a list of skills and techniques. Schools are more than factories for churning out products” and I think that this is very important. There are a couple of interesting chapters that deal with issues in Education, but the first one that I wanted to discuss was titled “The Complexity of Schools and Classrooms.”
It starts out the chapter by saying: “If you had a nickel for everyone who asked if you became a teacher to ‘get summer vacation,’ you’d be rich. Get used to it. It’s a ‘crack’ you’ll hear repeatedly from now until your teaching career is finished.” I completely agree with what they said, as I have already experienced this saying and I have not even started yet. It is not just about summer vacations but also Christmas holidays, Easter, and of course weekends. Teachers do not get the respect that they deserve from many people. Teaching is always seen as a career that is easy. The question that the authors are trying to answer in this chapter is “What does the job of teaching look like from the other side of the teacher’s desk” with the first answer being complex.
WHY IS TEACHING SO COMPLEX?
We are working with people
As a teacher, we are constantly on the move and sometimes we do not have the time to think about what we need to do before we do it. This can be complicated because everything that we do and all of the interactions that we have with the students are important and can be life changing. Although you are in a building with many other teachers, there is little time for exchanging of thoughts or having someone watch you teach, so it is difficult to know exactly how you are doing as a teacher.
A lonely job
Although you truly enjoy all of the students that surround you, it is sometimes difficult when all you want to do is speak with another adult. This is not only within the schools, but also at home. The authors say that it is very difficult to live with a teacher because “it’s more than a job; it’s a life.” We cannot leave work at work. It always comes home with us. With someone at home to talk to, this can help, but the authors say that although they may listen at first, they will eventually not want to talk or listen to anything about teaching.
Schools are complex
This part of the chapter discusses each move that a school makes and therefore interacts with a student can affect them in many ways. The ways that schools separate students by ability can make a statement to a child that is very powerful. “Sometimes the voices of school tell kids that they are losers; sometimes it works the other way around. What a child learns in school is not always bad, but it is not always good either.” When I first read this book three years ago, I thought no way at all is this true and I did not want to believe that teachers/schools/administrators had this type of negative influence on students. Now, since we have discussed how depressing schools can actually be, I can see where these authors are coming from. I will still never fully understand until I am there. We as teachers have the lives of people’s children in our hands. Before schooling was thought to be necessary, parents strived to send their children to schools because they had envisioned a future of education for their children. “Consider how important school is to parents before you become a teacher.” This was a very powerful quote and is truly something that all hopeful teachers should question of themselves. Schools are also complex because they are all different. They all encompass different rules, teachers, and students and therefore all have very different personalities.
Students are complex people
As the saying goes, no two students are alike. If this is true, then why are students placed within schools that treat them this way. “They use the same textbooks, take the same notes, are treated the same way, take the same tests, listen to the same teacher who teaches in the same way.” This is the case as it allows teachers to teach. We as teachers have to remember that there is more to life than school for these students. Remember that when they do not do their homework, are not motivated in class that there may be another reason for you to consider besides them simply not wanting to.
The curriculum is complex
There are two types of curriculum: Overt and hidden. Overt is the rules that we follow that are written down by the government. You will see hidden “expressed in the local and unspoken, but very powerful, ideas about how students act within the school. This type of curriculum has to do with society and has a powerful impact on many students. Some students are set out to fail under these circumstances. Their advice was to remember how lucky we are and all those who are not as lucky as you are.
This chapter had many good ideas about what it means to be a teacher and how we as teachers can affect the lives of many students. What we should be aiming for is a positive change in these circumstances. In addition, always remember to think about the impression you are giving students.
ut. I quickly remembered a book called Teaching from the Inside Out by Larry Beauchamp (Dean of Faculty of Education) and Jim Parsons. This book was the first book that ever introduced me to concepts of teaching. I had to read it in my Intro to Ed. Class in Medicine Hat and I remember always thinking that it was a very interesting book. The two authors of the book are professors at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I especially enjoy this book because it gives you the truth about teaching. It does not constantly talk about the wonderful joys of teaching, but also the faults, issues and things that need to be dealt with. It shows a sense of reality. They both believe that “learning to teach means more than learning a list of skills and techniques. Schools are more than factories for churning out products” and I think that this is very important. There are a couple of interesting chapters that deal with issues in Education, but the first one that I wanted to discuss was titled “The Complexity of Schools and Classrooms.”It starts out the chapter by saying: “If you had a nickel for everyone who asked if you became a teacher to ‘get summer vacation,’ you’d be rich. Get used to it. It’s a ‘crack’ you’ll hear repeatedly from now until your teaching career is finished.” I completely agree with what they said, as I have already experienced this saying and I have not even started yet. It is not just about summer vacations but also Christmas holidays, Easter, and of course weekends. Teachers do not get the respect that they deserve from many people. Teaching is always seen as a career that is easy. The question that the authors are trying to answer in this chapter is “What does the job of teaching look like from the other side of the teacher’s desk” with the first answer being complex.
WHY IS TEACHING SO COMPLEX?
We are working with people
As a teacher, we are constantly on the move and sometimes we do not have the time to think about what we need to do before we do it. This can be complicated because everything that we do and all of the interactions that we have with the students are important and can be life changing. Although you are in a building with many other teachers, there is little time for exchanging of thoughts or having someone watch you teach, so it is difficult to know exactly how you are doing as a teacher.
A lonely job
Although you truly enjoy all of the students that surround you, it is sometimes difficult when all you want to do is speak with another adult. This is not only within the schools, but also at home. The authors say that it is very difficult to live with a teacher because “it’s more than a job; it’s a life.” We cannot leave work at work. It always comes home with us. With someone at home to talk to, this can help, but the authors say that although they may listen at first, they will eventually not want to talk or listen to anything about teaching.
Schools are complex
This part of the chapter discusses each move that a school makes and therefore interacts with a student can affect them in many ways. The ways that schools separate students by ability can make a statement to a child that is very powerful. “Sometimes the voices of school tell kids that they are losers; sometimes it works the other way around. What a child learns in school is not always bad, but it is not always good either.” When I first read this book three years ago, I thought no way at all is this true and I did not want to believe that teachers/schools/administrators had this type of negative influence on students. Now, since we have discussed how depressing schools can actually be, I can see where these authors are coming from. I will still never fully understand until I am there. We as teachers have the lives of people’s children in our hands. Before schooling was thought to be necessary, parents strived to send their children to schools because they had envisioned a future of education for their children. “Consider how important school is to parents before you become a teacher.” This was a very powerful quote and is truly something that all hopeful teachers should question of themselves. Schools are also complex because they are all different. They all encompass different rules, teachers, and students and therefore all have very different personalities.
Students are complex people
As the saying goes, no two students are alike. If this is true, then why are students placed within schools that treat them this way. “They use the same textbooks, take the same notes, are treated the same way, take the same tests, listen to the same teacher who teaches in the same way.” This is the case as it allows teachers to teach. We as teachers have to remember that there is more to life than school for these students. Remember that when they do not do their homework, are not motivated in class that there may be another reason for you to consider besides them simply not wanting to.
The curriculum is complex
There are two types of curriculum: Overt and hidden. Overt is the rules that we follow that are written down by the government. You will see hidden “expressed in the local and unspoken, but very powerful, ideas about how students act within the school. This type of curriculum has to do with society and has a powerful impact on many students. Some students are set out to fail under these circumstances. Their advice was to remember how lucky we are and all those who are not as lucky as you are.
This chapter had many good ideas about what it means to be a teacher and how we as teachers can affect the lives of many students. What we should be aiming for is a positive change in these circumstances. In addition, always remember to think about the impression you are giving students.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Interactionist Theories
As a continuation to my last blog about functionalism and conflict theories, I would now like to discuss a differing theory called Interactionist theories. There are five sections in this type of theory. These sections consist of symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnomethodolgy, and Hermeneutics. I will be discussing each of these sections separately while at the same time give examples to help clarify.
Symbolic Interactionists
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) was a symbolic interactionist. People such as Herbert believed that we live in a world of meaning and that we react to the sometimes false meaning more than we do to reality.
Examples: Meanings from each person is different and we are able to create new meanings depending on the way that we interact with people. (The meaning that you take away from a book is due to the interaction with other people.)
These types of people do not believe in ‘reality’, they think that what they believe is actuality. (People believed that banks were going to fail. In turn, everyone would take their money out, which created a bank failure.
“You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: This is a perfect quote that describes this section, as people built up a fear in things only to make them become reality.
Phenomenology
Alfred Schutz was a believer of phenomenology. It was a combination of Max Weber’s sociology with Edmund Husserl’s methodology. In this section, everything is about what you see. They believed that the less you know, the better. If you knew anything ahead of time, it would give you a bias/corrupt view. Everything that exists is actually in your head.
Example: The Social Construction of Reality (1966)
Ethnography
The goal was to make things readable and to see things from more than one point of view. This section emerged in the Chicago School. Paul Willis who wrote Learning to Labour in 1977 was a major part of ethnography.
Examples: They might ask questions such as what does it mean to be Japanese? (They would go to Japan and report back once they thought that they were able to get their own view and they felt that they had truly lived the life of a Japanese individual)
An aspect that helped shaped the sociology of education was looking at working class kids and asking why they did not succeed in schools.
Ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel (1914- ) is a person who is involved in this section. He is famous for questioning basic assumptions. Many of the things that we do daily are very implicit that there is no need to articulate on why we are doing them. He was seen as very annoying as he always questioned the underlying assumptions.
Example: He would go into a store and take items out of people’s carts and put them into his own. It is implicit that once something is in your cart, you are planning to purchase that item. He went to the next level by stating that it is not your property yet, so he is able to take it.
Hermeneutics
This can be seen in someway connected to interactionist theories, but there is not as much to be said. Basically, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was involved in this and was known for the deconstruction of texts.
To put this theory into context with the other two types of theories: Functionalism and Conflict theories, we were shown an example of a place/space and what types of questions would be asked if each of these theorists entered it. This also helped me to put into perspective the types of beliefs that each of them had in a comparative view.
A BAR
Functionalists
- How does this pub serve the society and make it work?
- How does it reduce tension?
- How does it help the local economy?
(They are wondering how things are managed throughout the bar from a society’s point of view, as they are very interested in society.)
Conflict Theorists
- Whose interest does this serve?
- How do bars exploit female servers?
- How do bars help to blind workers to their oppression?
(The conflict theorists are asking questions that place blame on society and show that everything happens through conflict.)
Interactionists
- What does it mean?
- Why do people sit in the same spot?
- What are the social distinctions between “regulars” and “newcomers” (They are asking questions about interactions that people make with each other.)
Symbolic Interactionists
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) was a symbolic interactionist. People such as Herbert believed that we live in a world of meaning and that we react to the sometimes false meaning more than we do to reality.
Examples: Meanings from each person is different and we are able to create new meanings depending on the way that we interact with people. (The meaning that you take away from a book is due to the interaction with other people.)
These types of people do not believe in ‘reality’, they think that what they believe is actuality. (People believed that banks were going to fail. In turn, everyone would take their money out, which created a bank failure.
“You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: This is a perfect quote that describes this section, as people built up a fear in things only to make them become reality.
Phenomenology
Alfred Schutz was a believer of phenomenology. It was a combination of Max Weber’s sociology with Edmund Husserl’s methodology. In this section, everything is about what you see. They believed that the less you know, the better. If you knew anything ahead of time, it would give you a bias/corrupt view. Everything that exists is actually in your head.
Example: The Social Construction of Reality (1966)
Ethnography
The goal was to make things readable and to see things from more than one point of view. This section emerged in the Chicago School. Paul Willis who wrote Learning to Labour in 1977 was a major part of ethnography.
Examples: They might ask questions such as what does it mean to be Japanese? (They would go to Japan and report back once they thought that they were able to get their own view and they felt that they had truly lived the life of a Japanese individual)
An aspect that helped shaped the sociology of education was looking at working class kids and asking why they did not succeed in schools.
Ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel (1914- ) is a person who is involved in this section. He is famous for questioning basic assumptions. Many of the things that we do daily are very implicit that there is no need to articulate on why we are doing them. He was seen as very annoying as he always questioned the underlying assumptions.
Example: He would go into a store and take items out of people’s carts and put them into his own. It is implicit that once something is in your cart, you are planning to purchase that item. He went to the next level by stating that it is not your property yet, so he is able to take it.
Hermeneutics
This can be seen in someway connected to interactionist theories, but there is not as much to be said. Basically, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was involved in this and was known for the deconstruction of texts.
To put this theory into context with the other two types of theories: Functionalism and Conflict theories, we were shown an example of a place/space and what types of questions would be asked if each of these theorists entered it. This also helped me to put into perspective the types of beliefs that each of them had in a comparative view.
A BAR
Functionalists
- How does this pub serve the society and make it work?
- How does it reduce tension?
- How does it help the local economy?
(They are wondering how things are managed throughout the bar from a society’s point of view, as they are very interested in society.)
Conflict Theorists
- Whose interest does this serve?
- How do bars exploit female servers?
- How do bars help to blind workers to their oppression?
(The conflict theorists are asking questions that place blame on society and show that everything happens through conflict.)
Interactionists
- What does it mean?
- Why do people sit in the same spot?
- What are the social distinctions between “regulars” and “newcomers” (They are asking questions about interactions that people make with each other.)
That pretty much wraps up all of the theories that we have learned thus far.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Functionalists and Conflict Theorists
For these first few weeks of classes, I found it very difficult to think of what I wanted to blog about. I always find it much easier to discuss something that I am truly passionate about, as I am sure most people do. I noticed that a lot of what we have been learning was the basic background information of where sociology has started and how it has progressed over the years and more importantly, how it interacts with the Education system. All this aside, I know that everything that we have learned thus far will help us to connect it to what is happening in schools today and that it was necessary to learn. I started to wonder if this is what the class was going to be like all semester, but last week was the last class of background knowledge and we are now going to begin the lessons that will help us deal with issues/concerns with the schools.
To date, we have discussed three theories that exist in sociology. They are functionalism, conflict theorists and interactionist theorists. I would like to summarize the first two, so that we not only see them separately, but how they also compare to each other. When we were first discussing them, I was always getting confused about who thought what, but after we summarized them last class, it helped me to separate them easier. In my next blog, I would then like to discuss the ideas of Interactionist theorists and how it fits compared to these two.
To date, we have discussed three theories that exist in sociology. They are functionalism, conflict theorists and interactionist theorists. I would like to summarize the first two, so that we not only see them separately, but how they also compare to each other. When we were first discussing them, I was always getting confused about who thought what, but after we summarized them last class, it helped me to separate them easier. In my next blog, I would then like to discuss the ideas of Interactionist theorists and how it fits compared to these two.
Overall, no matter what the problem is, functionalists always try to find the positive. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the conflict theorists are suspicious of everything. I find that both of these theories are on opposite ends in their beliefs and I do not fully agree with one or the other, but rather see truth in certain points from each.
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